Call for mobilisation around investment for sustainable future is important, says AIIB president
THE New Development Bank’s (NDB) ninth annual meeting, held in Cape Town, is an important event in the bid to mobilise the world around the call for investment in a sustainable future, Jin Liqun, president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), said on Friday.
“This is a forum for new development members to have their voices heard,” he said.
Jin said it was the mission for the AIIB and NDB to contribute to enhancing global governance with new development paradigms.
“We should not only think outside the box, but also act outside the box,” he said, adding that in recent decades, emerging market economies had made remarkable progress in economic and social development by pursuing the course of growth different from that of developed countries, and these development experiences mattered.
“They are more relevant to other developing countries and easier to be replicated nowadays. Emerging markets and developing economies can offer unique insights and strategic approaches to sustainable development, particularly with regard to the net zero transition,” he said.
The call for sustainable growth came against the backdrop of formidable challenges. Climate change, acting as a force multiplier, had further strained the world’s efforts, Jin said.
In 2023 the world experienced its warmest year on record, with temperatures during the period breaching the crucial 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold.
“The cumulative impact of environmental crisis is eroding the very foundation of our ecosystems, threatening to derail the progress we have made. Developing countries in particular face mounting challenges with slower GDP growth, skyrocketing debt and staggering $4 trillion (about R71 trillion) annual SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) investment gap,” he said.
“Climate change is a clear and present danger we cannot ignore”, Jin added, further saying there was a need to to update international financial architecture to meet development and climate change challenges.
He emphasised that multilateral development banks needed to work together to grow the global pipeline of infrastructure projects which underpinned the global drive towards a sustainable future.
“We must work together to mobilise a much larger provision of local financial institutions that is able to connect international capital and expertise to local development project opportunities,” he said.
Jin announced that the AIIB would co-host the 2025 Finance Income Summit in South Africa, together with the Development Bank of South Africa, in the first quarter of next year. The summit would gather most of the world's public development banks, representing 10% of total global investment flows.
Jin also congratulated New Development Bank president Dilma Rousseff on the big headway the bank had made under her strong leadership amid the “rough and tumble” of a complicated global situation, saying her accomplishments were “all the more remarkable”.
BUSINESS REPORT